Funny Story About the Rio Carp Line

Yesterday I got a brand new shiny RIO Carp Line in the mail courtesy of RIO and CarpPro.

I am looking forward to putting it through it's paces.  I plan to tomorrow as a matter of fact.  While rigging it up I was reminded of two things.  First I was reminded that welded loops are sliced bread.  Secondly I remembered a funny story that made me laugh at myself.  I thought perhaps you all would enjoy laughing at me as well.

This is not my first RIO Carp line you see.  Five years ago I got one as part of a Carp-Slam swag bag.  The next spring as I put it into action I was dismayed to find that I couldn't cast it.  At all.  It was (or seemed to be at the time) the most odd casting line I had ever touched.  I couldn't figure out if it was the line or the cheap rod I was trying it out on but eventually gave up on both.

A couple of months later as I was cutting it up for spare parts to make a multi-tip shooting head system for a saltwater trip I finally figured it out.  I had put the damned thing on backwards!  How somebody who has been fly-fishing since he was 12 could even manage to pull it off, let alone fail to figure it out is beyond me.  And with that I will leave you with one final thought:

This end dummy

      

Flies Page Update

I just finished a complete update on my carp flies page with new pictures and more details, check it out.  It hasn't been seriously updated in quite a while, let me know if there is anything else you would like to see there.

Praying to False Idols

It is a certainty that you and I and all of us in between have ancestors who worshipped the sun and it's annual cycle of slow death and rebirth.  It is even more likely that they prayed to animal totems.

Today the sun graced Denver with six hours of glory.  Today the carp spirits gifted me with a few happy tailing fish.  False idols?  Perhaps.  

Or maybe I am just working on the "McTage".  I hear you can patent this crap and I am all over it.  Gonna be rich.

The "McTage".  Patent Pending?

  

     

2012 Stillwater Carp Finale

I think I have to call it official.  The off-season on my local river shall continue until further notice, but I am calling this fine little pond carp from Sunday my 2012 still-water finale.  I have been dropping an hour here and there checking in on local ponds and lakes for weeks now with nary a shot.   Sunday wasn't much of an exception but I did get one shot and one take in an hour of walking.  On the flip-side I have been doing really well on the river with good shots, decent numbers and freakish for me average size lately so it is hard to understand why I have been bothering at all.  

Incidentally, the fly is yet another experiment in egg yarn where I chop it up for use as a dubbing to make the head on an Egan's Headstand.  The egg-yarn really pops and makes it easy to see your fly.  

Stupid (And I Mean Stupid) Fly Tricks

Well, sometimes things just don't work out as planned.  Welcome to the first (and only) installment of stupid (and I mean stupid) fly tricks.

I may just have to keep my day job, not sure "America's Got Talent" is gonna work out.

Oktober-Fest FlyCarpin Style

Screw beer in October.  I don't even drink beer.  Carp is my drink of choice and October carpin can be quite tasty.  

Working on his Oktober-Fest beer belly

October is like a miracle month on my local river.  September always seems to be very difficult but for some reason the carpin seems to perk up for just a short while in October.  For no good reason I can see the fish get a little stronger and happier than September and apparently they too honor Oktober-Fest because this is when they get their fall beer-bellies. 

 

Small olive soft-hackles were the main ticket for me again today with a little love on the worm but in the past October has been one of my best months for big (3") crayfish patterns like the Primordial Crust dead-drifted or on a super slow swing.  You find allot of mature freshwater lobster this time of year in the river and it has always been my theory that carp are going scavenger.  They are such a wonderfully adaptable species!

 

This little window of joy does not last long though.  November and December are by far and away the hardest months in Colorado, so get while the gettin is good!  Or at least not bad.  And oh yeah - Stay thirsty my friends.

 

     

That Doesn't Hurt

A free pass from my lady to head out for a morning chasing carp with Barry Reynolds.  That doesn't hurt.

A ridiculously complicated battle requiring immediate concession of 50 feet of backing, passing the rod around several obstructions, untangling from the very top of a tree and throwing my rod over guide-wires like a javelin not once but twice.  With a carp struggling on the other end the entire time.  That doesn't hurt.

The guitar pose?  That holds hidden meaning.  I hope that doesn't hurt, it is not meant too.

The 14 stitches and a tetanus shot earned in the process?  That hurt quite a bit.

Having to leave early to head to the emergency room and therefore miss seeing Barry hooking into some real beasts?  Even another carp took the time to watch.  Damn, that is excruciating.